Thriller set in 1975 – EAST BERLIN

14th April 2023

Stasi Child by David Young, thriller set in 1975 – East Berlin.

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This is the first in the Oberleutnant Karin Müller series and it is a strong start. The author has clearly researched the time and place very well and brings that very difficult period in German history to life. The author’s protagonist is committed to her work as an investigative officer and seems to be, to quite a considerable level, a devotee of the regime. We know early on that her marriage is in trouble and to compound her personal difficulties, she is faced with the death of young teenage girl, whose body has been severely mutilated.

It appears as though this young woman was a “Wall Jumper” and the scene is set to look as though she crossed the wall from West to East, something that would have been unheard of – citizens living in the East risked their lives navigating the dangers of the Wall in their desire to reach the Western sector.  Western citizens could pass from West to East through the checkpoints. It is clear that she has been murdered and Karin and her team are tasked with trying to identify her. The Stasi soon dictate the terms on which they want the police involved and of course, given the nature of the political set up, the police investigation is inevitably hampered by machiavellian interference.

As the book comes to its conclusion, the reader needs to suspend belief but I think overall the author captures the feel of state control that was central to GDR governance. If people didn’t behave in a prescribed way, they were hunted down and incarcerated, with the intention of reforming their character and views, and no-one was exempt. It is probably hard nowadays to fully understand the level of punishment that stepping out of line could incur but you just need to visit Hohenschönhausen (the old Stasi jail, which is now a Memorial to those who suffered and died at the hands of the Stasi) in Berlin to comprehend the level of terror inflicted on the citizens of the GDR.

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